Going to Extremes - Softcover

McGinniss, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451118197 ISBN 13: 9780451118196

Publisher: Signet, 1982

Synopsis

This is the fourth edition of a work that always has been controversial in Alaska. Yet, it is an important and highly readable classic work that captures a portrait frozen in time of a raw state in turmoil during the oil boom. McGinnis went north to find out if there was anything left of the "last frontier." He found "mind-bending contradictions," as a previous publisher put it--greed, waste, addictions, and racism, among other things, that contrasted with an awesome untamed natural beauty and an honest, open, and independent spirit of the people.

About this title

From the Back Cover

When construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline created an oil boom in the late 1970s, journalist Joe McGinniss headed north to find out what if anything was left of the "last frontier." He discovered, as one reader put it, "mind-bending contradictions" - greed, waste, addictions, and racism, all of which contrasted with the vast, untamed natural beauty and the honest, open, and independent spirit of the people.

McGinniss looked at the underbelly of Alaska's boom culture. He tells a sometimes shocking, often moving story of turmoil through the perspectives of a lively assortment of bush pilots, boomers, park rangers, bartendesr, teachers, journalists, waitresses, politicians, Alaskan Natives, and an advancing legion of outsiders looking to get rich quick. "Going to Extremes" is an entertaining yet historically important book that stands as a journalistic time capsule from a time three decades ago when overwhelming changes were sweeping over Alaska.

About the Author

Joe McGinniss started his career in journalism at the Worcester Telegram, Philadelphia Inquirer, and LA Herald-Examiner before becoming an overnight success with his first book, 'The Selling of the President,' which landed him on the NY Times bestseller list at age 26. He went on to write 10 more books, several of them bestsellers, and he currently is working on a book tentatively titled, 'Sarah Palin's Year of Living Dangerously,' to be published in 2011 by Broadway/Random House. He has five children and, at last count, seven grandchildren. McGinniss lives in Massachusetts with his wife, writer and editor Nancy Doherty.

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451118197
• ISBN 13: 9780451118196
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1